//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: The Horse that Fell to Earth // Story: Tempest Shadow: Mooby Road // by Captain_Hairball //------------------------------// PonyvilleH, July 17th, Era of Harmony year 8 Tempest closed her eyes and stepped through the mirror. She felt a lurching sensation, then the cool air of a summer night hit her. She was through. She rose to two legs, swaying a little. Standing upright was disorienting at first, but in a few steps she had the hang of it. This wasn’t so hard. Moonlight shone down on the courtyard of Canterlot High. She didn’t intend to spend any time here. After the third attempt on Tempest’s life, Twilight Sparkle had decided that, in spite of ponies’ generally forgiving nature, it was best if Tempest took some time away to give memories a chance to fade. Her army had killed a lot of ponies. Many of them she’d killed personally. That took a lot of forgiving. Still didn’t mean she was going to go back to school. Her transport was supposed to be here by now. Where was it? She got out of direct view of the road and took a moment to examine how the mirror had decided to dress her. Civilian clothes. Heavy black boots, tight blue twill leggings, an even tighter short sleeved black tunic, and a jacket made out of some kind of animal hide. She patted down the pockets, checking to see if the mirror had seen fit to give her any money or weapons. At least in the human world, she wouldn’t be held back by the disability of a broken horn, and she could… Hold on. Something wasn’t right. She’d read Twilight’s briefing on hands thoroughly, and she was certain that humans were supposed to have two of them. “Oh mother all of vermin,” she hissed, holding her arms out in front of her. The left ended in a slim, calloused, dark purple hand with five long fingers with blunt-cut, unpainted nails. The right one ended in a scarred stump. Well. It was one more hand than she was used to. Somewhere, a horn sounded twice. Tempest flattened herself against the wall of the school. She’d been spotted. “Yoohoo! Fizzlepop Berry Twist!” said aloud, high pitched voice. That would be human world Pinkie Pie. “Darling, not so loud. You’ll wake the whole neighborhood.” And that would be Rarity. Tempest swore internally. Of all of Twilight’s friends… They came into view around the corner. There they were. It was just the two of them, waltzing along as if they weren’t two unescorted, untrained females wandering near an empty building at night. Tempest stepped away from the wall onto the walkway in front of them. Both of them screamed. Pinkie dived behind Rarity. Rarity hopped into the air and dropped the thermos she was holding. “F-fizzlepop?” stammered Rarity, her hand flashing into her handbag, probably for a weapon. “I prefer Tempest.” “Oh my gosh, you appeared out of nowhere!” Said Pinkie, still clinging to Rarity. Rarity, thin as a wisp above the waist, didn’t provide much cover for the short, curvy Pinkie. “That was so cool! Did you use magic? Does the mirror come out of the school wall now?” “No, and no,” said Tempest. If they were only going to send two, why couldn’t it be Applejack and Rainbow? She’d have things to talk to them about. Fluttershy at least knew when to keep her mouth shut, and Twilight… well. Maybe this world’s Twilight would also be… Never mind. These two were what she had to deal with, at least for now. “What’s the plan?” Rarity reached down to pick up her thermos and its lid, which had come off when she dropped it. “Well, I was going to offer you coffee, but…” “Oh, we do need coffee,” said Pinkie Pie, “And I can get you coffee!” She took off her backpack and pulled out a ring of keys. “Come on girlfriends. You’re not going to need to sleep for a week.” † The bakery’s sign said ‘Sugar Cube Corner’. Pinkie let them in, then locked the door behind them. The windows had metal barriers on them that blocked the view inside from the street. “Do they really need those dreadful blinds, Pinkie?” said Rarity, sitting down at a booth. “Who would try to rob a bakery?” “Um, literally anybody?” said Pinkie, going behind the counter and turning on the coffee machine. “Who wouldn’t want to rob this place? We have muffins! Speaking of which, Tempest, are you hungry?” “Extremely. Bring me all the bacon and egg’s you’ve got,” said Tempest. She knew there was no stigma against meat in the human world, and she intended to take full advantage of that. “Got it!” said Pinkie Pie. Tempest sat down across from Rarity and began patting her jacket’s pockets with her left hand to see what the mirror had done to the paperwork and the purse full of bits Twilight had sent her through with. The pants had pockets as well, but they were clearly for decoration — she could barely fit her fingers halfway into the hip pocket, and the ones on the back seemed to be sewn shut. She found a black wallet in the right inside breast pocket of the jacket She fished it out and fumbled with it until disgorged a slim stack of paper money and a few small cards. There was another card under a plastic film that she couldn’t easily get out with one hand. She set the wallet and the cards aside and began to count the money. “The others send their regrets,” said Rarity. “It is summertime, but Applejack has to help on the farm, and Rainbow is volunteering overseas. Fluttershy is mad to get to veterinary school, so she’d taking corses summer term. And Sunset and Sci Twi are working on…” Rarity hesitated. “A project. A project whose nature they will not specify. I’m concerned, but for the moment it is out of my hands.” “Do you still go to the high school?” Tempest said, sorting the money into stacks by denomination. She’d noticed a date of birth on the card stuck in her wallet; she seemed to be much younger here than she was in Equestria. Perhaps the years were longer on this side of the mirror? Or it was magic. Magic was irritatingly unpredictable. “Oh heavens no,” said Rarity, pulling a napkin out of the rack by the wall and folding it in half. “We’re all in college, now.” “Hand me a menu, please,” said Tempest. Rarity blinked. “I don’t think Pinkie is going to make you pay, darling. And if you need anything I can cover you. Or…” she smiled, and flicked a small card like one of the ones in Tempest’s wallet out of her purse, “Daddy will.” “Daddy’s rich?” said Tempest, raising an eyebrow. “A retired football player. Though a great deal of his money does come from a line of sportswear that I consulted him on as a young lady, so it’s only right that he share. I’d prefer to pay my own way, but the fashion industry is very competitive.” “That’s good, but I still need the menu. I’m calculating.” Tempest flipped the menu open and scanned it quickly. The numbers after the menu items must be the prices. Assuming similar quality ingredients could be had in a market for a quarter what they cost at a restaurant, her cash would last her sixty days at half rations. And that was only counting food, not lodging and other expenses. That wasn’t good. Twilight and she had discussed the fact that she’d need to find employment in the human world. “Soup’s up,” said Pinkie, placing a coffee cup and a large metal mixing bowl full of scrambled eggs and chunks of bacon in front of Tempest. “Pinkie, I think Tempest meant ‘a large serving of bacon and eggs’, not literally ‘all the bacon and eggs you have,” said Rarity. “No, Pinkie got it right,” said Tempest, bracing the bowl with her right arm and reaching for a fork with her left hand. “It’s not actually all the bacon and eggs we have? We have a lot,” said Pinkie, serving Rarity a poached egg with a little sprig of parsley for garnish, and herself a massive chocolate chip muffin. “But it’s all I could fit on the griddle at one time. I hope it’s okay?” “Ith… amathin,” said Tempest, shoveling food into her face. The trip through the mirror had apparently taken a lot out of her — she was starving. The eggs were fluffy and savory, the bacon very salty and just at the exact perfect point between too chewy and too crispy. The only condiment besides salt and pepper was some sort of red sauce called ‘ketchup’. She tried it on the eggs and it elevated them from ‘very good’ to ‘sublime’. Tempest's mouth was dry from the bacon. She glanced over at the coffee. It was black and steaming, it’s dark surface gleaming invitingly in the dim light. She reached for it with her right arm instinctively, whacked it and sent the cup flying over the edge of the table. “Oh! I’ll get that!” said Pinkie standing up. Tempest cursed under her breath. Her cheeks felt hot. How could she be so clumsy? Her ruined arm looked a little like a hoof but was nowhere near so useful. Hands seemed at first glance to be superior to Equestrian hooves, and after using a hand for a little while, she did find them superior in fine motor control. But it had nowhere near the strength or flexibility of an Equestrian pony’s leathery hooves. And you couldn’t walk on them, restricting humans to bipedal locomotion only. The stump though? She had no idea what to do with that. She didn’t doubt she’d be able to manage most day to day tasks with one hand after a little practice. But her skills were all military in nature. She’d expected to find work in whatever the human world needed for military or law enforcement — conflict was a constant throughout all universes. But having such an obvious disability meant that was now out of the question. What was she going to do now? The last thing she wanted to be was Rarity’s permanent houseguest. Rarity placed the napkin she’d been fiddling with in front of her. She’d folded it into a little white crane. “How did you lose your… if you don’t mind my asking?” “I didn’t,” growled Tempest as Pinkie deftly cleaned up the spilled coffee. “I’m a unicorn in the pony world. I lost my horn when I was a little filly. I was mauled by an ursa major. Do you have those here?” “No, we do not,” said Rarity, cutting a tiny portion of her poached egg with her knife and fork. “It means ‘big bear’!” shouted Pinkie from the kitchen. Pinkie pranced back in and set a fresh cup down in front of Tempest, who reached for it with her left hand this time. Pinkie had guessed correctly that Tempest took hers black. She took a sip. It was rich and nutty and hot and she loved it. “Yes. A very big magical bear. I assume the mirror thought I wouldn’t really be ‘me’ if I wasn’t missing something. I disagree.” “Oh,” said Pinkie, putting a consoling hand on her stump, “I’m so sorry! If you need any…” Tempest’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t you dare pity me,” she growled. “Um, right,” said Pinkie, jerking back her hand from Tempest as if she’d touched a hot pan. “Hey, so, what do you want to do while you’re here? Twilight told us what you'd been through, and I think you could use Rarity and I were thinking road trip.” Tempest raised an eyebrow. “What I’ve been through? You know who I am, right?” Rarity batted her eyelashes. “Yes. Ruthless warlord.” “Warlady,” said Pinkie. “Hands stained red with blood,” said Rarity. “Hooves,” said Pinkie. “But all of that is by Equestrian standards. You’ll find military leaders in the human world do things do ponies wouldn’t even contemplate. Did you execute civilians? Torture prisoners? Use weapons of mass destruction?” Tempest felt vaguely offended. “I turned princesses to stone.” “They got better,” said Pinkie. Rarity patted Tempest’s hand. “Yes, you’ve been a very bad pony. And it does, I must confess, give you a certain mystique. But Twilight forgave you, then we forgive you.” Tempest was sure it wasn’t that easy. “Fine. A road trip sounds interesting. Keep talking,” she said, setting down her coffee and returning her attention to her eggs. “We’ve been to Equestrian Ponyville a time or two. It is a wonderful place,” said Rarity. “Arts! Culture! Wine! So friendly! So tolerant! Human world Ponyville is… how do I put this kindly…” “It’s a one-horse town,” said Pinkie, elbowing Rarity in the ribs. “Though two, I guess, now that Tempest’s here. Her and Sunset.” “Anyhow,” said Rarity, waving Pinkie away. “Are you interested? I have an itinerary planned, and a hotel in the city reserved for tomorrow night.” Tempest set her fork in the empty metal bowl. “I’m in.”